10/6/2022 – If you ever asked yourself what Svitlana's favourite "Smart Moves" theme is, we have a clear answer - fantastic, unexpected moves. And you can try to guess them in this video. In our 50th show, Svitlana has surprising examples from real games with Le Quang Liem, Pavel Eljanov, Jonathan Levitt, Mikhail Tal, and Arshak Petrosian (No, not the world champion Petrosian). Many of you might know the famous games already, but for those who don't know them, you are in for a treat.

10/6/2022 – The Novy Bor Chess Club grabbed the sole lead at the open section of the European Club Cup after taking down Offerspill in Thursday’s fourth round. Wins by Vidit and Markus Ragger more than made up for Harikrishna’s loss on board 1 against Magnus Carlsen. In the women’s event, co-leaders Superbet and Pamhagen drew their direct encounter to remain atop the standings. | Photos: Fiona Steil-Antoni

10/6/2022 – 20 years ago, on 4 October 2002, a very special duel began in Manama, in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The reigning World Champion Vladimir Kramnik played against a PC chess programme - Deep Fritz. Dagobert Kohlmeyer followed the match in Bahrain and shares memories of this remarkable event.

10/6/2022 – Hans Niemann and Sam Sevian kicked off the U.S. Championship with wins, as they defeated Christopher Yoo and Elshan Moradiabadi in the first round of the 14-player event. True to his style, Niemann was laconic in the post-game interview, noting that “chess spoke for itself” and that the game was so beautiful he did not even need to describe it. In the women’s event, four players scored full points, including Alice Lee, who is playing her first national championship. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

10/6/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show #536 Merijn van Delft looks at a fascinating game Magnus Carlsen played in round 2 of the European Club Cup in Mayrhofen, Austria. The World Champion had White against the German Grandmaster Alexander Naumann and impressed with surprising maneuvers in the opening and a couple of pawn sacrifices for positional compensation. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

10/6/2022 – After three rounds, six teams in the open section of the European Club Cup have won all their matches in Mayrhofen. The top scorers on individual boards are Silla Valencia (Korobov, Santos), Offerspill (Carlsen, Tari) and Viernheim (Kryvoruchko, Kuzubov). In the women’s event, Superbet (Bulmaga, Saduakassova) and Pamhagen (Danielian, Ushenina) have collected 6 match points in the first three rounds. | Photos: European Chess Union

10/5/2022 – That's how chess can be: You cheerfully let the knights rush forward and threaten everything that's standing there. The dear pawns lash out so much that it's a real joy - and suddenly the cerebrum announces: T-R-A-P. Unfortunately too late. That doesn't have to be. With the tactics app in your ChessBase account, you can work on your tactics at any time: Solve tasks at your level without time pressure, measure yourself against others in the tactics fight or compete against the clock in the tactics sprint. In the second episode of his account tutorial, Martin Fischer explains how best to use the tactics app. So that you don't fall into a trap again...

10/5/2022 – A few hours ago, the Wall Street Journal published a lengthy article sharing the findings emerging from an investigation conducted by chess.com. According to the piece, chess.com asserts that Hans Niemann “likely received illegal assistance in more than 100 online games, as recently as 2020”, including in many tournaments with prize money on the line. Niemann did not respond to requests for comments.

10/5/2022 – No major upsets were seen in round 2 of the European Club Cup in Mayrhofen, with the favourite teams mostly securing comfortable wins. Superbet’s Vishy Anand was rested, while Offerspill’s Magnus Carlsen played and beat Solingen’s Alexander Naumann. In the women’s event, the top two teams, Monte-Carlo (pictured) and Superbet, scored wins. Both teams will face difficult challenges in round 3, as they will play Pamhagen (third seeds) and Odlar Yurdu (fourth seeds) respectively. | Photos: European Chess Union

10/4/2022 – There is a sense of frustration at this stage by parties wide and large, and while the quote in the headline will hit closer to home for chess players, the venerable British newspaper 'The Guardian' also took an unprecedented step by declaring their own official position regarding the entire scandal.

10/4/2022 – The cheating accusations against Hans Niemann continue to make waves. To check these accusations, a number of chess players have statistically analysed Niemann's games with the help of computer programmes. The latest research comes from the Brazilian streamer, programmer and data analyst "Rafaelvleite". He comes to the conclusion that Niemann's play "after 2018 shows unexpected" results "not compatible with" a rating of 2700. Here are excerpts from his article about his research.

10/4/2022 – At the beginning of October the FIDE published its new ranking list. With a rating of 2856 Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the list though he lost 5 points in the Sinquefield Cup. Currently, Carlsen is 44 ratings points away from 2900 but also 45 rating points ahead of Ding Liren, who has a rating of 2811 and is the world's number two. Hou Yifan continues to lead the women's ranking list, five juniors have a rating of 2700 or more, and Zhu Jiner from China is number one on the list of female juniors.